Raven felt a small headache start to form behind her eyes. Clothing stores were her nightmare. There were too many people, filled with excitement or frustration or anxiety. Too many people figuring out that their size had changed or whatever dream outfit they had in their mind looked like a misshapen garbage bag in reality. Mothers brought their screaming, snotty children, and everyone stared at her because they knew who she was. Plus, the music was way too loud.
She only came here after weeks of begging from Starfire, and a well-reasoned argument. They were required to attend some kind of hero charity ball at a ridiculous mansion, and black tie was required. Raven had some street clothes and blouses, but nothing that would stand up to the scrutiny of Jump City's elite. Starfire had tried on what seemed like a whole rack of dresses, all gorgeous on her, and modeled them for the watching crowd. Raven kind of hoped she would wear herself out and they could leave before she herself had to find a dress. Maybe she could order something decent online.
"Friend Raven," Star said softly, approaching with her hands held ominously behind her back, "I know you do not enjoy the pink or the sequins, so I am hoping this might be agreeable?"
Starfire smiled tentatively and held out a floor length dress. Raven looked it over with mild surprise.
"Uh, yeah. That actually looks really nice. Thanks, Star."
The alien barely suppressed her squeal of delight.
"Please, will you do the modeling of it? You must be assured that it fits well!"
A ball of apprehension formed in Raven's stomach at the thought of wearing a dress in front of all of these people, but even she found it hard to deny Starfire's pleading eyes. She gritted her teeth and slipped into the nearest dressing room. Raven disrobed and pulled the dress on as quickly as possible, and immediately marched out to get her friend's approval. She was hoping to get the ordeal over with before any civilians saw her, or she saw herself.
"Is this alright?" she asked.
Starfire's eyes grew wide and she immediately lifted off of the ground.
"Raven, you look beautiful!"
She felt her cheeks color at the comment. She was used to Starfire's never-ending compliments, but something about the earnestness in her voice combined with the blatant ogling of passersby made Raven feel embarrassed. Half-curious, half-afraid, she turned to face the large mirrors on the store wall.
She did look...beautiful. Or something like it. The dress was a plum crushed velvet, and it hugged her figure well. A slit ran up the left side that Raven wasn't initially too happy about, but she did have to admit that the contrast of her pale skin against the fabric was attractive in a haunting kind of way. Her gaze ran up to her own body, over her head, and met the shining green eyes of her friend, and, in a rare moment, Raven smiled.
**O***O***O***O**
"I hate these ties," Beast Boy grumbled, pulling at his dress shirt, "It feels like it's choking me."
"I thought you'd be used to it, grass stain. People always make their pets wear collars."
Beast Boy glared at Cyborg, who was looking comfortably dashing in a tuxedo. Robin coughed to cover up a laugh as he stared at his communicator, also appearing nonchalant in his red shirt and suit. Only the green Titan felt out of sorts in the fancy attire. He had picked up a suit with a purple dress shirt some years ago at Robin's insistence. They had to maintain a good image, their leader had said, and that included wearing formal clothes and going to formal events.
Cyborg took pity on Beast Boy and began fixing his tie, grumbling about his incompetence in a brotherly way. Beast Boy heard the common room doors open behind him, but stuck as he was with Cyborg pulling on his neck, he had to judge what Starfire looked like from Robin's reaction.
Apparently, she looked really good.
The redhead herself let out a gasp of delight and suddenly flew into view, circling Robin once before putting her feet on the ground.
"Boyfriend Robin, you look most handsome!"
Robin was unable to form a sentence as his face deepened to match his shirt. Cyborg and Beast Boy exchanged a glance and snickers. Starfire did look fantastic in her long, pastel green gown. It suited her eyes and her body. To be fair, Starfire always looked fantastic, and it still always took Robin off-guard.
I guess that's love for ya, Beast Boy thought. Cyborg finished with his tie and glanced over his head at the doors.
"Yo, Raven, lookin' good!" he yelled, giving her a warm smile and a cheesy thumbs up. Beast Boy turned around to look at his friend and felt his stomach drop through the floor.
Raven had always been pretty, in his opinion, and the Raven right now threw him for a loop. Her dark purple dress accentuated her figure almost too well, and her hair was pulled half-back into a mess of curls. Starfire must have done her makeup. Her eyes looked smokey and enticing, while her lips sported just a subtle gloss.
"You look very nice, Raven," he heard Robin say from somewhere that sounded far off.
The empath nodded and walked further into the room to join her friends. She caught Beast Boy's eye and arched an eyebrow quizzically, which made him realize that his mouth was hanging open. He closed it with a too audible snap.
"Glad you learned how to tie a tie, at last," she said dryly, gesturing at his shirt.
Beast Boy felt himself blush and chuckle nervously. Cyborg said something he didn't hear, fixated as he was on her eyes. He felt similar to when Cinderblock had thrown him headfirst through a billboard and Raven had to heal his multiple skull fractures. Everything was in a daze and his mind couldn't get off of that image of her standing in the doorway. He didn't fully come back to reality until they were at the ball.
"Snap out of it!" Cyborg ordered, waving his hand in front of his friend's face.
"W-what?" Beast Boy blinked several times and shook his head. He quickly processed the ornate room they were in, complete with an over-large chandelier and live jazz band.
"You've been out of your head for like twenty minutes!"
"Oh! Heh. Sorry. I...I guess it must be nerves. Lots of people to impress and all that."
Beast Boy took a sip of some champagne that he only half-remembered getting. Cyborg crossed his arms and stared him down.
"You know, you kinda seemed a bit off since you saw Raven in that dress."
Beast Boy inhaled his drink up his nose and immediately began coughing. Nearby socialites sent him dirty looks and stepped away from the splash zone.
"No way, man!" Beast Boy squealed, bracing his hand on his knees as he waited for the bubbles to leave his nose. His shrill response was more confirmation than if he had just admitted to it.
Cyborg leaned in slightly and lowered his voice, "I get it, man. She's beautiful, and I know you've had a thing for her for a while."
Beast Boy straightened up and opened his mouth to protest, but Cyborg held up a finger.
"You don't tease Star like you tease Raven. You don't go out of the way for any of us like you do for her," Cyborg paused and smiled slightly, "And you don't fight with any of us like you fight with her. Just don't hurt her, because if you hurt her, I'll have to hurt you, and as fun as it sounds, I don't wanna do that."
Cyborg patted Beast Boy's shoulder and moved away before he could respond. Not that he had a response, anyway. He knew he had a crush on Raven, he just didn't know it had been so obvious to everyone else. Was it that obvious to her?
His eyes sought her out in the crowd. She was standing off in a corner, sipping on her own drink. A cluster of men near her were shooting her curious looks and seemed to be working up the energy to speak with her. Beast Boy wasn't sure exactly what he was doing, but he found his feet making their way over there, and the rest of him followed.
Raven glanced up at him approaching, and she visibly relaxed. Affection warmed his heart as he realized how much she trusted him, or at least preferred his company to a stranger's. That was something.
"How are you holding up?" he muttered to her, eyeing the lurking guests.
"I hate this," she answered bluntly, "I can't tell anyone to leave me alone because Robin says it would be bad press, but these people get so creepy, and that's saying something coming from me."
Beast Boy laughed. Some of the men glared in his direction. He could read their body language and understand their jealousy. Here was this amazing woman, and she would rather talk to a green string bean than any of them.
"Hey, do you want to dance?"
Raven jerked her head up in surprise. His face heated up as he processed that he had just asked her on impulse.
"I mean," he paused to swallow and Raven followed the motion of his Adam's apple with her eyes, "It would get you away from these weirdos. Honestly most of them want to ask you to dance, so if you're already dancing with me, they won't be able to...but only like, if you want to...I mean don't feel pressured or anything, like it doesn't matter to me at all! I just wanted to help - "
Raven raised her hand to stop his rambling. A beat of silence stretched between them before she put down her glass and gestured for him to lead the way to the dance floor.